If we thought our health service was prepared for the coronavirus, the past few days have brought a shattering reality. Here, in a chilling dispatch from the front line, one doctor recounts the moment Covid-19 struck and overwhelmed a major London hospital – and how doctors and nurses watched helplessly as patients died an excruciating … Read more
What is the coronavirus? A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. Viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body’s normal functions. Coronaviruses are named after the Latin word ‘corona’, which means crown, because they are encased by a … Read more
Think only old people can die from coronavirus? Think again. Australian expert who led team assessing China’s outbreak says NO ONE is safe from the killer virus Elderly people are the most at-risk of developing severe coronavirus Experts warn young, healthy people are still dying from respiratory infection More than 198,000 people throughout 167 countries … Read more
This January, I started treatment for cancer. I’m lucky; I have a very standard form of leukaemia into which there’s been lots of research. Crucially, I was diagnosed early, thanks to a brilliant GP spotting something was amiss with an unrelated blood test. That means my prognosis is good. Except . . . I now … Read more
By Ben Spencer and Mario Ledwith for the Daily Mail HOW BAD IS CORONAVIRUS IN ITALY? Italy is the worst-hit country other than China, with 366 deaths and 7,375 confirmed cases of the virus [subs: please update figures later]. The country has imposed the most restrictive measures since World War Two, with 16million people now … Read more
It’s hard not to feel a sense of impending doom when reading about the coronavirus infection that is rapidly sweeping the globe. Figures show it has killed more than 3,000 and infected almost 90,000 people in at least 65 countries. The majority of infections and deaths are in the Hubei province of China, where the never-before-seen … Read more
Every Thursday David Parkes looks forward to the bacon sandwich he shares with his closest friend Michelle Craven at their favourite cafe. Afterwards, they move to a nearby park where they sit and watch planes taking off from the local airport. Sometimes when they drive to the shops, they deliberately take a longer route to … Read more
MEMOIR DEAR LIFE by Rachel Clarke (Little Brown £16.99, 336 pp) Growing up in the 1970s, Rachel Clarke loved hearing her father’s tales of his career in medicine. But one story, — from his days as a naval anaesthetist — lingered uncomfortably in her mind. He was only a young man himself when an explosion … Read more